10/19/2004

"Extended Engineering" is a paradigm where product companies look to external partners in the design, development and sustenance phase of the product. This has become a successful strategy because the customer perception of value in products and services changes so rapidly...

Customer value is created by continuously shifting development to the most appropriate players, either external or internal, while leveraging their knowledge base.

Modern communications tools and the Internet have obviated the need for product design partners to be physically close, so you shop the world to find the best partners...

Product collaboration is about leadership and common sense, working to understand what a company can do extremely well, because no single company can do everything well. Collaboration leverages each partner's capabilities and creates a stronger product...

The bottom line is product companies need to focus on the market and the user patterns, as they retain the product design and how the product looks and how it works. They can leave the job of engineering the product and integrating the components based on the specifications to a partner.

About Me

I am a strategic business lawyer, deal attorney and professor. I received my B.A. in Economics from Princeton University and my J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. I am an adjunct faculty member of Chatham University and Strayer University.